Do you consider Atheism as a religion?

[Cthulhu]

This is the problem wit atheism. It is defined by the opposition of religion. It is against, rather than for something. It is based on ignorance, skeptisicm, no belief, and no hope. This is what makes it SO SO lame.

This is completely, utterly ignorant and mistaken, except for the "skepticism" part, but the fact that you think skepticism is a bad thing means that it's probably not worth arguing with you.

Atheism is not against anything. It's a lack of belief if gods. If you are a naturalist skeptic as well, that disbelief extends to all supernatural things. In an ideal world the term "atheism" would be as superfluous as being an a-unicornist or a-leprechaunist.... but the fact that the majority of the world for much of human history have been some sort of theists is why there is a term for unbelief.

Atheism I suppose could be based on ignorance, but certainly not necessarily so, and hardly in practice. Many of the most prominent atheists, such as scientists, philosophers, and scholars who are professed atheists, became so because of questioning established beliefs. If we are talking about atheism based on skepticism, I don't see how this could be ignorance. I'm not saying an atheist couldn't be mistaken, but it is not by necessity ignorant to question the widely held idea that there absolutely must be a god and deciding for one's self that it isn't very likely.

No belief? Well if you mean belief in gods, then yes. That's exactly what the term atheism describes. You have to be a theist to think this is necessarily a bad thing. But atheists still believe in many things, just not generally supernatural claims.

No hope? This is complete bullshit. Sure, I'll bet there are atheists, just as there are theists, who feel lack of hope about things, but not believing in a god does not necessitate that one has no hope. Atheism for a skeptic requires one to appreciate life in its fullest because it is the only life you will ever have. It encourages one to fight injustices here and now in this world, because there probably isn't another one that will rectify things.

It is SO SO lame that in this day and age there are still people not questioning received wisdom about unfalsifiable claims of sky-daddies. It is SO SO lame that many theists cannot even step outside of their own subjectivity for a second to understand that atheists are not bogeymen with no morals. It is SO SO lame that we have to keep hearing your pathetic smears against unbelievers

[Cthulhu]

Actually, if there is even a small likelyhood of those claims being real, then THERE IS REASON to entertain them.

This is called Pascal's Wager, and it has been considered a very weak philosophical argument for a long time now.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pascal-wager/

Scroll down to "5. Objections to Pascal's Wager" Alot of it is quite technical, but worth the read if you would like to understand why agnostics, atheists, and unbelievers don't take it as a serious reason to believe in a god we have no proof of.

[Fresh]

i dont believe in anything! no one has enough reason to believe in anything and to 'take sides'. i think if we keeping asking why? why? we're gonna end up at either randomness, or intelligence (in whatever form)

i dont have anything against people who are willing to take sides on a an intelligent creator or just randomness

what gets me is THE BIBLE and religions based on old books. especially with christianity because of the content of the stories, talking snakes, angels, noahs ark, walking on water, i mean really ???? REALLY??? i dont see how anyone IS CAPABLE to be dumb enough to believe this stuff!!

however one thing i hold above all else is PERSONAL HAPPINESS. happiness in life is all that matters period! if people ARE able to believe in this stuff and live a happy life, then good for them.

id rather be a dumb fuck but be the happiest man alive than be the most knowledgable, wisest soul but be miserable and sad, for sure

[Edgar Erebus]

One could use logic to cast away what contradicts and keep what is consistent.

Is that supposed to be "Personal Jesus self-service restaurant? Take what you like, eat how much you want for an entrance fee?

[JASPER]

Calling Atheism a religion is like calling bald a hair color. Also, I completely agree with Cthulhu.